Taranaki Daily News

Trump gets grim internal polling

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President Donald Trump’s advisers presented him with the results of internal polling last week that showed him falling behind former vice president Joe Biden in key swing states in the presidenti­al race, part of an effort by aides to curtail Trump’s freewheeli­ng daily briefings on the coronaviru­s pandemic, according to three people with knowledge of the conversati­ons.

The president spoke with campaign manager Brad Parscale, White House senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, among other officials, in calls and meetings last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, according to the three people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal discussion­s.

One call on Wednesday – with

Parscale patched in from his home in Florida and McDaniel from hers in Michigan – was designed to present grim polling data to the president to encourage him to reduce the frequency of coronaviru­s briefings or to stop taking questions, after seeing his numbers slip for several weeks, officials said.

Trump resisted the pleas, saying people ‘‘love’’ the briefings and think he is ‘‘fighting for them,’’ a person with knowledge of the Wednesday conversati­on said. Trump has long been distrustfu­l of polling data presented to him when the numbers are negative, aides say.

The two polls given to Trump – one from the Republican National Committee and another from the Trump campaign – both showed Trump trailing Biden in swing states, officials said. His political team has grown more concerned in recent weeks, as the briefings became more combative while the economy cratered and coronaviru­s deaths continued to rise. On Thursday, Trump set off a new uproar with his suggestion that injecting bleach or other disinfecta­nts could help kill the novel virus – prompting a scramble by the administra­tion to contain the damage.

The president held no briefings over the weekend and has taken fewer questions this week, with no appearance­s in the briefing room. Aides say they are hoping to soon have the president travel outside Washington, meet with governors in the Oval Office and participat­e in events that are focused on the economy.

RNC and Trump campaign officials did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday on the polling.

Aides described Trump as in a particular­ly foul mood last week because of the polling data and news coverage of his administra­tion’s response to the pandemic, according to two of the people familiar with the discussion­s. In one call, he berated Parscale over the polling data, the two people said.

At one point in that call, Trump said he might sue Parscale, though one of the people with knowledge of the comments said he made the remark in jest. News of Trump’s eruption at Parscale was first reported Wednesday by CNN.

Trump told Parscale that he did not believe the polling that had been presented to him, even though it came from the campaign and the RNC.

‘‘I’m not losing to Joe Biden,’’ Trump said at one point, both of these people said, adding that the president used profanitie­s throughout the call.

After the call, Parscale described it to others as a Trump venting session, these people said.

Trump ranted to other aides for several days about a story in the New York Times that described him as spending much of his day watching television and calling people on the phone.

He was also angry about coronaviru­s testing – telling advisers that he was unfairly getting crushed in the media over shortages in the United States. Trump this week announced a set of testing guidelines that continued to leave the onus on states to develop their own plans.

 ??  ?? President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump

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